by Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY Sports

by Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY Sports

College basketball didn't see Marshall Henderson coming, and neither did the Southeastern Conference.

Henderson leads the SEC in scoring, and he's helped Ole Miss become one of the biggest surprises in the nation.

A junior college transfer, Henderson has proven to be one of the most intriguing, dynamic and divisive college basketball players out there. Some fans admire his on-court emotion and shooting ability; others don't like what they perceive to be show-boating or unsportsmanlike conduct.

All of this was on display Tuesday at home against Kentucky, when he argued with his coach on the sideline, threw ice back into his own student section and scored 21 points in a 87-74 loss.

But there is more to his behavior off the court than has been publicly revealed. Although it has been reported that he spent 25 days in jail last spring for violation of the terms of his probation stemming from a 2010 forgery charge related to counterfeit money, court documents obtained this week by USA TODAY Sports detail why that probation was revoked. In January of last year, he tested positive for cocaine, marijuana and alcohol, according to the records provided by the Tarrant County, Texas, District Attorney's office through a Freedom of Information request.

Those tests follow incidents in 2011 when he failed to meet other terms of the probation, such as community service

Ole Miss declined to make Henderson available Wednesday. In an email to USA TODAY Sports, assistant athletic director Kyle Campbell wrote, "We were aware of the issues from Marshall's past when he signed. Those misdemeanor charges have been addressed through the legal process, and there have been no issues since he has been a part of our program."

Willie Henderson, Henderson's father, said his son has owned up to his actions and dealt with the consequences.

"If you violate your probation in any form ‚?? whether it's making a phone call on time, making an appointment, sending in a letter, they have so many things you have to do," Willie Henderson said Monday. "If the judge says you have to have a job, you're in violation if you don't. There were some things on there that could be met, and there were some things that couldn't. He violated his probation so he had to do his time.

"It was four years ago. He's definitely moved on. We've moved on. But here it is, surfacing again."

This is the same kid who, during his elementary school years, would get up early on his own before school to shoot around ‚?? sometimes for an hour, his father said. Covered in dirt from the ball and being outside, Henderson would go back inside and clean himself up a bit before heading to school.

"What he is, is passionate, and I think that's a good thing," Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said earlier this month. "What you see is not something that is made up. You see a kid who cares. He's a competitor. What we try to do is channel it in a positive way.

"I don't want the passion to become emotional, where it becomes a negative. Marshall is certainly a work in progress."

Said former Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio, who recently called an Ole Miss game for ESPN: "How hard he plays, how much he loves to play, that's what makes him good. The big negative is ‚?¶ you can't be emotionally intoxicated. That's what he does a little bit.

"When the ball goes in the net and the possession is over, he goes from this highly intelligent player to being so emotional he's engaging the fans."

Henderson said he knows what critics say about him, and that every coach he's ever had has talked to him about his emotions.

"I think everyone hates it, unless you're an Ole Miss fan," Henderson said. "But that's the best part about it. If enough people hate you, you love it and you feed off of that hate."

But he'd like to clarify something. He thinks people get confused about the way he acts on the court.

"Normally, it's positive -- it is to our crowd, our team," he said. "You don't normally see me jawing with some guy on another team. Sometimes fans on the road, but that doesn't usually happen until the end of the game, and it's a wrap."

And those instances when he taunts the crowd, like last weekend at Auburn when he popped his jersey and yelled at Tigers fans after hitting the game-winning free throws, tend to go viral on the Internet. Add that to YouTube videos dedicated to his reaction to shots, and, as Kennedy puts it, "There's a lot of folklore going around with Marshall."

***

Though Henderson has been around basketball his whole life and has worked on his shot endlessly, he says he detests being called a natural shooter. "It actually makes me really mad," he said. "I've put a lot of time and effort to get my shot the way it is."

Willie Henderson said he noticed something special about his son's shot since he was in first grade. "He could actually shoot a three on a 10-foot (basket)," Willie said.

A high school basketball coach, Willie Henderson used to take his son to his practices and games, so even when Marshall was as young as 4 or 5, he was studying the game. Then he'd go home and emulate it on the nearly regulation-size half-court his father had built him at home.

Willie Henderson said he set up lights around the court so there was never any excuse for his son not to go out and get shots up.

"He can score from the perimeter; that's his No. 1 strength," said Kennedy, whose team is 17-3 (6-1 SEC). "People are starting to realize that he's more than just a shooter. He's a good basketball player. As he's gotten more comfortable with this team and as we've continued to evolve as a team ‚?¶ he's started to round into taking what the defense gives him and becoming a more complete player."

The Rebels needed that, but mostly, they needed a shooter.

Right before SEC play began last season, Kennedy kicked leading scorer Dundrecous Nelson off the team for an unspecified violation. After being beaten soundly by LSU, Kennedy said he turned to a member of his staff and said, "There's nothing we can do about this now; we can't go the waiver wire."

But they could scour the nation for someone to carry the scoring load the following season. They found Henderson.

"It was really a natural marriage," said Kennedy, who had transferred as a college player himself and didn't believe Henderson's history of transferring to be a negative.

***

Ole Miss is Henderson's fourth school in four years. He began his college career at Utah, before transferring to be closer to home at Texas Tech to play for Pat Knight. But after Henderson's redshirt season, Knight was fired, so the guard headed 30 miles west to South Plains College, a two-year school in Levelland, Texas.

Before, during and after all of his pit stops, Henderson faced legal trouble.

When he was a high school senior in May 2009, he and a friend used $800 of counterfeit money to buy 57 grams of marijuana in two separate exchanges, according to a statement Henderson gave to two U.S. Secret Service agents while a student at Utah. Henderson also had tried to exchange $100 worth of counterfeit money for real money, an incident that was connected to the two $400 drug deals by another Secret Service agent.

The case did not go to federal court; instead, state prosecutors took over in June 2010. Henderson was ultimately charged with forgery by possession of a forged writing to wit, money, a misdemeanor, and he was put on deferred adjudication probation for two years (meaning, if he successfully completed probation, the case would not remain on his record).

Henderson violated the terms of his probation on eight counts, including testing positive for alcohol, marijuana and cocaine, according to court records stamped Feb. 1, 2012. Henderson was sentenced to four months of jail. He served 25 days in jail plus seven weekends of work release, according to Ole Miss. His charge was ultimately changed to forgery by possession of a forged writing with intent to pass, still a misdemeanor.

"He was 18 years old and he made a mistake," Willie Henderson said, referring to the May 2009 incident. "He's paid for that. He's realized that. He's certainly come to terms with that. What I've seen is a success story.

"What I've seen is a kid who's kind of risen up from his poor decision. He's paid his consequence, and now he's overcoming it."

And through it all, coaches have given Henderson second chances ‚?? on the basketball court.

Before Henderson joined his team, South Plains coach Steve Green had seen Henderson play just once, during one of Knight's final practices at Texas Tech. Green wasn't looking at Henderson as a prospective player at that point, and he wasn't thrilled by his play.

Green chalked some of it up to the rustiness of a redshirt season and some to what he called Henderson's "theatrics." But when Henderson became available some months later, Green talked to him and his father, and Green decided to give the sharpshooter a shot.

Former Texas Tech coach Billy Gillispie told Green about a shooting drill he'd set up for Henderson early in his tenure with the Red Raiders. Henderson doesn't recall the exact amount of time he had to shoot, but it was rapid-fire, and he said he made 71 of 74 three-pointers.

"(Gillispie) said that was the best and most he'd ever seen anyone do," Henderson said, laughing.

At South Plains, Green set up a similar drill for Henderson and another player, both of whom "could really stroke it," Green said. Both players were to shoot threes only, and they'd have a rebounder feeding them the ball for five minutes straight.

Willie Henderson said Green was a terrific coach for his son, taking the "right approach with Marshall. When it was time to draw the line, he drew the line."

Henderson was named NJCAA player of the year and averaged nearly 20 points at South Plains, leading it to an NJCAA national championship and a 36-0 record.

***

But the path to a perfect season wasn't always smooth.

There was the time, Green said, he asked Henderson to make a list of the five things he would not do in games for fear of getting a technical: profanity, things of that nature.

"One was dunking the ball after the whistle was blown," Green said. "He did that the exact day he handed the list to me - 'These are five things I will not do.' Somebody shot the ball, and he ran in there, and the whistle blew, and he tip-dunked the ball in.

"They T-ed him. The moment he did it, his head went down. I pulled him out of the game, and I didn't play him the next game."

Green's struggle with Henderson was mostly exasperation, trying to teach his star to handle his own emotions. "It was like dealing with a guy that you felt sometimes you needed to put him in 'time out,' " Green said.

Green said whenever he grew frustrated, he'd remind himself how much his players loved Henderson, and how much Henderson loved his teammates. He couldn't be angry at him any longer.

"At the end of the day, his heart is in the right place," Green said. "He's a good team member and he wants to win. He sometimes maybe thinks he can win it himself, I don't know, but I guess all special players feel that way."

Willie Henderson agreed, pointing out that teammates ‚?? from his high school team to his various college stops ‚?? have always enjoyed playing with his son. Coaches say Marshall Henderson gets just as fired up if a teammate hits a big shot as he does for his own, a scene that played out Tuesday night during Ole Miss's game against Kentucky.

The Ole Miss staff tries to work with Henderson to tone down his antics, or at least control them a bit so he doesn't get a technical foul in a key moment -- or a bad reputation.

"We're constantly talking to him about how things may be perceived," Kennedy said. "We don't want the antics to overshadow the fact that, 'Hey, you're the SEC leading scorer. You're a very good basketball player. Let your game talk.'

"At the same time, he's got a great edge, and that edge allows him to be successful, so we don't want to temper it completely. It's who he is."